Tomorrow afternoon, shutters drop across the Costa del Sol.

Not because of crisis — because it's Nochebuena — Christmas Eve — and Spain does Christmas with family, not commerce. By 14:00 tomorrow, banks close. By evening, most pharmacies follow. By December 25, the only open doors are emergency rooms and 24-hour pharmacies.

This isn't panic. It's planning. Today — Tuesday, December 23 — is your last full business day for the next week.

Here's what that looks like in practice.

Spanish banks close at 14:00. That gives you until lunchtime to handle anything requiring a branch visit. ATMs work around the clock, but if you need a human — account issues, signature requirements, paperwork — today is your window.

After today: Banks reopen on December 26 (Friday) in Andalucía, then close for the weekend. Practically speaking, anything requiring branch staff waits until December 29.

ATMs work through the holidays, but they run low in smaller towns. If you're heading to village restaurants or mountain day trips over the break, pull what you need today. €200 in mixed notes covers most contingencies.

Regular pharmacies close tomorrow afternoon and stay closed on Christmas Day. If you have a prescription pickup pending — antibiotics, ongoing medication, anything you can't skip — today's the day.

Most gestores — administrative agents — close tomorrow for the holidays. Many won't reopen until January 7. If you have a pending question about residency paperwork, tax deadlines, or anything bureaucratic, call this morning. After the new year, Hacienda's January 31 deadlines start pressing.

If the nanny mentions something about the kids needing to see a doctor, this is your window. Most pediatric offices close tomorrow afternoon through January 2. Hospital Costa del Sol in Marbella stays open for emergencies, but routine appointments vanish until the new year.

Notary appointments

If you needed a property signature, power of attorney, or any document requiring notario — public notary — that ship sailed last week. Most notaries are already on holiday schedules or fully booked through year-end. The next realistic window opens January 7.

Court filings

Courts operate on a holiday schedule from December 24 through January 6. Anything requiring judicial involvement waits.

New bank accounts

Opening a Spanish bank account takes a minimum of two to three appointments. If you haven't started that process, it's now a January project.

Spain runs a farmacia de guardia — duty pharmacy — system. Every neighborhood has one pharmacy on rotation to stay open nights, weekends, and holidays. The rotation changes daily.

How to find yours:

The Colegio Oficial de Farmacéuticos de Málaga maintains the official lookup at farmaciasguardia.farmaceuticos.com. Select Málaga province, then your town or zona — zone. It shows which pharmacy is on duty for any date you select.

Bookmark it. You'll need it at 23:00 on December 27 when you realize you're out of antihistamines.

24-hour pharmacies (365 days, no rotation):

These stay open regardless of holidays:

Today (December 23): Normal hours. Mercadona, Carrefour, Lidl open until 21:00–21:30.

Tomorrow (December 24):

December 25: Everything is closed.

December 26: Most reopen regular hours in Andalucía.

If cooking sounds tedious and someone else handling the stove sounds better, tonight is easier than tomorrow.

December 23 evening is a normal dining night — before the family gatherings take over every restaurant on the coast. Most places operate regular hours. Tomorrow evening, many restaurants either close early for the staff's own Nochebuena, or run special (expensive) prix-fixe menus only.

Worth calling ahead to confirm hours, but you can generally walk in tonight. Plaza de los Naranjos in Marbella's old town stays lively — the restaurants around the square stay open, and December 23 isn't the crush that December 24 becomes.

¿Está de guardia esta noche? — Are you on duty tonight? (For pharmacies)

¿A qué hora cierran mañana? — What time do you close tomorrow? (For everything)

The coast doesn't actually stop — it shifts gears. Beaches stay open, the weather cooperates, and most restaurants return to normal by December 26. But if there's something requiring a bank teller, a gestor's signature, or a pharmacy prescription, today is the day to handle it.

Two weeks of Spanish Christmas rhythm start tomorrow. The admin can wait — but only if you've already handled what can't.

See you on the paseo — A. and the vacationing Waypoint Sur team

With Waypoint Sur, you can always expect plain-English guidance to land, settle, and thrive on the Costa del Sol—work, schools, healthcare, visas, taxes, home, and daily life.  
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